


The Perfect Storm

by DarkWarriorProgram (KoolKat_SuperStar_DareDevil), DorianBlackwall, KaitoKitsune



Series: Ghosts of the Spectres [3]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angst, But mostly angst, Canonical Character Death, Colonist (Mass Effect), Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, Post-Virmire, Virmire (Mass Effect), War Hero (Mass Effect)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-05 07:46:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18361676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoolKat_SuperStar_DareDevil/pseuds/DarkWarriorProgram, https://archiveofourown.org/users/DorianBlackwall/pseuds/DorianBlackwall, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaitoKitsune/pseuds/KaitoKitsune
Summary: A storm is a force of nature. It doesn't bend to anyone, nor can it be stopped. Storm Shepard lives up to her name, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake: friend, enemy and civilian alike.





	1. Virmire's Victims

Shepard saw the salarian STG camp wasn’t anything special when the Mako pulled up. The Captain- Kirrahe- explained the situation: Saren was breeding krogan and created a cure for the genophage. Upon hearing the news Wrex immediately became upset they were going to destroy it. She was never good at placating people, for Storm you either followed her orders or you stayed the hell out of her way. “Help me out here, Shepard. The lines between friend and foe are getting a little blurry from where I stand.” Storm knew that she had to get Wrex to see this… thing not as a cure for the genophage, but as the weapon Saren created it to be. When the krogan pulled his gun on her, she only _just_ stopped herself from shooting him on reflex. “So that’s it. All this time, and that’s all I get from you? How can you not see what this means to the krogan? This base can’t be destroyed. I won’t allow it!” Things were going downhill quickly, and the krogan refused to listen. Shepard lowered her gun and tried to get him to talk, to listen to reason. The tense silence shattered with the sound of Ashley’s gun firing on Wrex’s back. Storm turned her focus on the other woman and quickly began reprimanding her. She wasn’t so much upset Ashley killed Wrex than she was that Ashley interfered without explicit orders. She found that no one was too upset the krogan mercenary was dead. Wrex hadn’t been the friendliest and he made no attempt to befriend the other squad members so it came as no surprise when none of them were particularly upset about the events. 

Storm didn’t make the choice lightly. In fact she’d’ve rather not made it at all, but that would have meant both of them dying. Both Kaidan and Ashley were willing to pay the ultimate price. Kaidan, who was surrounded by Geth and an armed nuke, or Ashley, who was surrounded by Geth and the salarian STG. Kaidan had already armed the bomb so there wasn’t any risk of their mission not being completed. In the end it came down to Kaidan’s life in exchange for Ashley and the STG’s. It almost hurt to have to leave Kaidan behind as the Normandy flew away, she’d become fond of him over the past few months and given time maybe it could’ve turned into something more. She’d never know now, and it was pointless to think about the ‘what ifs’, so she turned her attention back to the CIC to set their course for Ilos; Saren wasn’t going to stop and give them time to grieve.


	2. The Collector's Casualties

They all knew it was likely a one-way trip. The fact that some did make the return didn't change that they all knew they would most likely die on the other side of that relay. Jack was the first one to die as the beam from one of the Oculus cut threw the Normandy’s armor. Storm’s first instinct was to get her to the Medbay. Miranda acted as the voice of reason, and Storm realized she was right. With Joker avoiding the beams it would be impossible to give Jack treatment. EDI said her heart already stopped anyway. At least it was quick and painless. Weaving between the field of debris proved harder than anticipated as the chunks of metal scraped against the ship’s sides causing the kinetic barrier to work harder than it was designed to. Kasumi was working on getting it to hold up as it began to overload. When the resistors began to explode she made a run for the door of the engineering deck. Turns out it was too late as the drive core erupted into a ball of fire and smoke. EDI made sure it was contained to that room of the ship, but Kasumi was caught in the flames. The explosion from the Collector ship was what killed Thane, as it pushed a steel beam through the hull to impale the drell. When the Normandy finally crashed on the collector base their squad had already been reduced from 11 to 8 as everyone gathered in the comm room to plan their attack.

With the fatalities they’d already taken tensions were high as they all gathered in the briefing room. It was Miranda volunteering to lead the ones not with Shepard that did it. “I don’t want you leading the second team. Half of us don’t even trust you.” Garrus snapped at the Cerberus operative. The Turian wasn’t wrong, Garrus and Tali had no love for Cerberus and were only there for her, Samara gave her oath to Storm and thus had no real connection to them, and Zaeed was here because of a deal he made with the Illusive Man. In fact when she thought about it the only people who trusted each other were Garrus and Tali, and Miranda and Jacob. This was do or die, all or nothing, she needed her team to be able to work together without fail, which meant Garrus and Tali were with her. Storm knew she couldn’t put Miranda in charge, not that she doubted the other woman’s ability to lead, she doubted the others’ would want to follow her orders. She needed someone who could get the others to follow their lead. Jacob was the logical choice, as a soldier he’s been in firefights before and he knew how to command a small team. Since Tali was coming with her, Mordin would be their tech expert in the vent.

Mordin went down next as they struggled to close the doors of their rendezvous point. Garrus may have been able to survive a rocket to the face; the same couldn’t be said about the fast-talking salarian. Storm knew he was gone before she reached his body. Garrus survived because of his armor, and even then it was just barely, Mordin only had his lab coat protecting him.

By the time they found the crew their number was half of what they had when they entered the relay, and they still had almost the whole base to go. Storm knew the Normandy’s crew wasn’t trained for the kind of battle they were currently facing, but she couldn’t lower their numbers anymore than necessary, in the end she refused to have someone escort them and sent them to what she was certain was their death. They needed to split up again, someone maintain a biotic field and someone leading the diversion. Shepard put Miranda in charge of creating the field and had Zaeed lead the second team. She turned to Garrus and Tali and silently gave them their orders. They both hesitated when they realized it meant neither of them would be going with Storm. ‘Keep each other safe’ she silently ordered her oldest and best friends as Samara and Jacob followed her and Miranda. Storm knew her team’s path would be the hardest and didn’t want to risk either of her friends getting hurt or worse. She cared about the justicar and the ex-soldier, but if things didn’t work out the way she hoped, at least Tali and Garrus would be safer with Zaeed. As the collector swarm carried Samara away, she was relieved it wasn’t one of her best friends that was taken when Miranda’s barrier failed last-second. Storm felt her stomach drop when Zaeed said they were taking heavy fire. Garrus and Tali were fine, but the same couldn’t be said for Zaeed who was shot just before the doors shut. The mercenary/bounty hunter was gone in a matter of moments as the blood poured out from the shot that pierced through his stomach.

Storm looked at what remained of her squad, four people plus her; that’s all that was left. This was the homestretch; the blaze of glory. She nodded to Garrus and Tali who eagerly took their rightful places at her side, leaving Miranda and Jacob to fight off all the collectors alone. The Commander had no reservations about how that would end. As she made her way to the central chamber something she’d said all the months ago went through her mind. _If I’m walking into Hell I want someone I can trust beside me._ Glancing at the turian and quarian at her side she knew she wouldn’t want it any other way; if she was going to die it was going to be fighting beside the two people she cared about most. Turns out the sentiment was premature as the three of them made their way back to where Joker had the shuttle. The silence in the Normandy as they made their way back through the Omega 4 relay weighed heavy on the four survivors, but they were alive and the collectors weren’t. Storm had sacrificed almost everyone to do it, but the end justified the means.


	3. Kill Your Conscience

Freeing the Geth from the Reapers was obligation. Storm knew they were a force to be reckoned with, and the Quarians just killed a Reaper. For as good as the Quarians were with tech, they couldn’t compete with beings that were machines themselves. What was more, is the Quarians started it this time. They had attacked the Geth even knowing their odds of winning weren’t great. If the Geth standing in front of her was right, giving the Geth true sentience would make them more than machines. To some degree they always would be, and machines followed orders when given them. The Quarians could decide not follow an order or change what they did and end up costing them hundreds or even thousands of lives. With the Geth that wasn’t as huge a risk, even if they were given free will. Unsurprisingly, Tali was firmly against uploading the Reaper code. Storm hesitated for a moment before allowing the Geth to complete the upload. The Quarians made their bed and now they had to lie in it. The Geth fell to its knees as the upload finished. Above them the Geth began tearing the Quarian fleet apart; destroyed ships streamed across the sky as they burned as they fell toward the planet’s surface. Storm turned her back to Tali for a moment. When she caught the movement out of the corner of her eye she ran toward Tali as her friend began to fall off the cliff. Shepard raced toward Tali in an effort to catch her; only to come short as her friend fell to her death.  
“We regret the deaths of the creators.”  
“They made their choice.” The fleet was given a chance to retreat and save themselves time and time again, and refused to end this senseless war that was started out of a need for a centuries old vendetta. With the Geth firmly on her side she headed back to the Normandy.

She wasn’t good with emotions and honestly she’d be glad if she never had to deal with people talking about their feelings. But it came as part of her job; checking on the crew. “Why the hell did they keep shooting? All they had to do was stop.”  
“The Quarians whole society was based on the Geth being the enemy. I doubt they could see it any other way.” Storm knew it sounded cold, but she believed what she was saying.  
“Even Tali?” Joker shot back the response instantly. The pilot and the quarian had become good friends over the course of their many months spent travelling together, first when hunting Saren and then the Collectors.  
“I tried to save her.” Storm had a suspicion that even if she had made it to the cliff in time that Tali would find another way to join the rest of her people.  
“Yeah… I’m sorry… That was… yeah,” the pilot stuttered out.  
“I wish it had come down differently, but the Geth deserved a chance.” Maybe if Storm had made a different choice somewhere along the line the Quarians and the Geth could have lived in peace, but that was neither here nor there. She left the bridge and made her way down to engineering to speak with Javik. He of course hated that the Geth survived. Honestly, she wasn’t quite sure what she expected him to say. The Commander left the prothean to his brooding and went to the crew deck. Liara and Garrus had been close with Tali; the former forming a bond as the only females in their motley crew other than Shepard herself, and the latter becoming friends as they accompanied her on not one but two missions to save the galaxy. The asari was the closest to the elevator and Storm decided to visit her first.  
“An entire race gone. I still can’t believe it.”  
“I could order salvage teams to recover information from the crashed quarian ships, Dr. T’Soni.” Glyph’s artificial voice responded immediately.  
“No, not now. Let them rest. Let Tali rest. She deserves that much.” Liara’s voice was filled with sadness even as she remained composed. Storm let the asari be. If Liara wanted to not think about it, who was she to make her talk about it? She’d rather avoid talking about feelings anyway. Storm didn’t know if the other woman had been aware of her presence, but she left for the Main Battery without either of them saying a word to each other. If she was being honest Shepard expected a much different reaction from the asari. Garrus’ response wasn’t what she expected either.  
“I know you have your reasons for choosing the Geth, Shepard, and I’ll respect them. But Tali’s choice… that’ll be harder to get over.” The turian was quiet when he spoke and his voice was soft enough that the normal dual-tone couldn’t be heard. “She was a good friend. I never did see her face but I always imagined there was… What do humans call it? An angel behind that mask. And now I hope she’s resting with them.” He didn’t say anymore and didn’t acknowledge that she was there after that. Storm was a bit hurt that Garrus had brushed her off in such a blatantly obvious matter. Usually he was busy calibrating the ship’s guns, which required focus and precision so she’d leave him be. Tali chose to die with the rest of her people, and as much as Tali’s death hurt Storm knew the Geth would be more valuable in the long run. Their technology and knowledge of machines could be enough to tip the scales in their favor. If it meant the difference between winning this war and losing that was the price she had to pay.


End file.
